Quint loves up on both ZOMBIELAND and THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS at Fantastic Fest!

Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with my thoughts on ZOMBIELAND and THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS from Fantastic Fest. Let's start with the undead, shall we?

I’ve seen ZOMBIELAND twice now if that tells you anything.
Yes, I love it. Yes, it’s as good as everybody says it is. And yes, there’s a surprise appearance that if you don’t know of by now do your best to keep it secret.
Basically ZOMBIELAND is Woody Allen and John Wayne paired together in a buddy road trip zombie apocalypse comedy. If you’re not sold you don’t exist to me.
You’ve seen the trailer, you know the premise. Done and done. I won’t go into plot, there’s no need. The flick comes out in a couple of weeks and you don’t want me blabbing the whole story to you.
So, let’s just go over my impressions. Emma Stone really is turning into this generation’s Kathleen Turner, getting hotter by the movie and that husky voice will melt your heart (if you go for the wimminses). Whoever casts her as a femme fatale first will be called a genius.
Jesse Eisenberg has perfected the neurotic geek and makes a lead that pretty much everyone can relate to. Except the jocks with no geeky interest whatsoever. For them they have Woody Harrelson, who absolutely knocks it out of the park as the cynical zombie-killing, snakeskin jacket wearing, banjo playing, gun shooting badass.
Pairing these two types together in the constant danger of the zombie apocalypse is what makes this movie work more than anything else. Their rocky friendship feels real despite both characters being larger than life.
And that’s the power of the movie, the ability to have a real heart and real emotion in a film so comical and unreal.
It’s true this film is more comedy than horror-comedy, but that’s fine. That’s the world this movie set-up and it never deviates. The zombies are depicted as fast and vicious. They pose a threat, but they’re not the point of the movie, just a new reality these characters have to live in.
Ruben Fleischer shows a lot of talent here. He shoots the hell out of this movie, the slow-motion opening reminiscent of WATCHMEN’s fantastic opening credits sequence. I especially like the zombie-on-fire section of the credits sequence.
And make sure to stay after the credits for another bit of awesomeness featuring… someone special. I so want to gush over the big appearance, but I just can’t be that dick so close to release.
I was able to nab an interview with Woody Harrelson and Jesse Eisenberg that turned out great and we talk in-depth about the entire movie, including the surprises, so I’ll post that on opening weekend.
Zombieland has my biggest recommendation as a horror and comedy nerd. The flick has heart and is fun, funny and just plain cool.

I also caught my first secret screening yesterday. I missed ROBOGEISHA, which was Secret Screening #1, but made it in for Secret Screening #2 which turned out to be the rough cut of George Clooney and Grant Heslov’s THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS, which was a tad uneven, but really damn fun.
And we get to see The Dude again! I know Jeff Bridges isn’t playing Jeffrey Lebowski, but his new age hippy army commander is real fuckin’ close, down to the hair, beard and attitude.
This film is filled with people who make me smile. George Clooney can do no wrong (and yes, I even count BATMAN & ROBIN. That movie was a horrible fucking turd, but even then Clooney somehow managed to be a good Bruce Wayne), Ewan McGregor is one of the most likable actors working and Kevin Spacey can play a fantastic douche!
And yeah, it’s weird every time McGregor talks Jedis and Jedi Warrior. He even has a speech where his journalist character talks about feeling like a farmboy far away from home having to save the galaxy from evil… or a hobbit who was once safe in the shire. Hrrmmm… maybe a little taste of things to come if some of the rumors circling around THE HOBBIT are true.
Based on a true story (more than you think, according to the opening title card) of the army exploring psychic soldiers beginning post-Vietnam the flick follows McGregor as he tries to prove his manhood to his fleeing wife (the cute redhead that Faraday fancied on LOST) by going to Iraq as a nobody journalist.
While there he finds life in the “dangerous” luxury hotel with the other journalists waiting for passage into the real war zone not to be what he was expecting. Soon he falls in with Lyn Cassady (Clooney) and he gets his adventure.
One of the things I loved about the movie was that there might have been some truth to this shit… Not massive things… these guys train for decades and we have one man who supposedly stopped the heart of a goat and can make clouds scatter. But Clooney is kind of a fuck-up regularly, so it’s hard to imagine this guy possessing the powers of a Jedi Warrior.
The cut we saw was still a little rough and I imagine we’ll be seeing some edits to this flick before it unspools in early November. The last feels a little rushed, but the first two acts are drop dead funny.
Heslov had some really charming motherfuckers in this movie and he milks them for all they’re worth. I left the theater feeling like I just watched a Coen-lite movie. It’s got the quirk and fun of a Coen film, but the whole experience was much lighter than I was expecting, but that’s not a bad thing. Not every thinking man’s comedy has to be saddled with a heavy message or serious drama core.
That’s it for those two. See you folks tomorrow for my continuing Fantastic Fest coverage. Flicks I’m going to be talking about very soon: George A. Romero’s SURVIVAL OF THE DEAD, CIRQUE DU FREAK: THE VAMPIRE’S ASSISTANT and an indie undead bromance filled with tons of gore and laughs called THE REVENANT! Stay tuned!
-Quint
quint@aintitcool.com
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The men who stares at goats looks brilliant. The casting is fantastic, the story seems wierd enough. Can't wait. And actually I've never heard of Zombieland before today. The chances for this coming to a theatre near me though, is virtually zero. Guess I'll have to wait for the DVD..hmpf!

The trailers are incredibly unfunny, Woody seems stiff (heh) in his delivery and that other kid seems annoying as shit in that Michael-Cera-is-annoying-as-shit kind of way. The Purell joke wasn't funny, the zombie kill of the week wasn't funny, all of Woody's one-liners weren't funny. How are you gonna put out a trailer for a supposed comedy, yet not have anything actually humorous in it? Everything I've seen of this movie has been done to death in a thousand other films. Maybe I'll be wrong, since I've heard nothing but praise, but the horror comedy (the zomedy in particular) needs to die off for a few years.

The only movie I am REALLY looking forward to seeing between now and the post-Thanksgiving big releases is Zombieland. I am glad they put together a movie that has a lot of entertainment value and isn't just hack like the recent remakes and piss poor "diary of the dead/land of the dead."

Austin crowds are usually pretty intelligent (ie laughing at the joke that was the ending to the Mist) so I'm curious as to whether or not people will be openly laughing at, if Diary was any precursor, the unintentional hilarity that's bound to ensue.

You sound like someone I never want to meet. And as far as "How are you gonna put out a trailer for a supposed comedy, yet not have anything actually humorous in it?", I rarely — if ever — laugh at the trailers for comedies I end up enjoying. Anchorman, Hot Fuzz, The Hangover... none of them. Whether it's due to censorship, or bad editing from the marketing people, or gratuitous repetition from overplayed TV promos, or just not being able to find jokes that translate to trailer form, there are a thousand and one ways for comedy trailers to go wrong.

I have the highest hopes for these two movies. Way above any shit Hollywood "blockbuster" that came out over the summer. It's not like this shit is formulaic. I know it isn't 100% original but how often do movies like this come along.

...trailer's too funny? That means you gave away all the good parts!!! Trailer's not funny? Movie must suck!
Here's a blanket rule for trailers, guys: If it's rated R and the trailer didn't make you laugh, GO SEE IT. This is called the "Hangover" phenomena, and usually means that all the good shit is too intense to show in a regular theatrical trailer.

...you really mean "first thing reported about the movie and something that most already know by now"? Surprise as in it's mentioned on Wikipedia and IMDB?
<p>Um, yeah. God forbid anybody spoil that one.

Just looked on Wikipedia. Yeah they give it away, if you're fucking LOOKING for it. I checked the flick out based on my desire to...well, CHECK IT OUT. And it turned out great.
Turns out YOU decide what you do/do not spoil about a flick. I had no idea till just now.

I'm sorry if I poisoned your puppy or punched your grammy or something, but you seem to have a bone to pick with me for some reason. Just like you calling me out (wrongly) on the original of the term "cameo" to describe a big celebrity doing a bit part in a movie in my AMAW talkback you completely miss the point here and just seem to want to throw a jab at me. Obviously the character Jeff Bridges plays is based on a real person. My happiness comes from Jeff Bridges playing another Dude-like character. It'd be like if I was happy that William Atherton showed up in a movie playing Glenn Beck... Atherton's good at playing douche bags and I haven't seen him do it in a while. See what I'm saying?<BR><BR>You're right in your assumption that I didn't read the book, but I never claimed to have. Believe it or not I can and do read more than comic books and scripts.

My kids see a lot of monster style horror movies. Jaws, Deep Blue Sea, The Grudge, The Thing, Alien, etc. How hard of an R is Zombieland for those of you that have seen it? We are thinking about taking the kids this weekend, they want to be zombies for halloween anyway. Is there any nudity and how heavy is the graphic violence? Thanks for any non-spolier input.
Before someone jumps on me, my kids know how to behave in a movie theater and are better than most adults.

Jack, I caught Zombieland at a sneak last week, and I cannot wait to see ti again, and I definitely plan to bring my 8-year-old son, who is actually scared by stuff like this, if it is truly scary. But it's not, I would put this movie in the same ballpark as Ghostbusters on the scary-0-meter, in other words, the zombies in this movie are not so much scary as annoying, kind of like high gas prices which can bite you and kill you if you are not extremely careful. And to any of you too-cool-for-school kids who talk about this movie when you haven't even seen it, declaring it 'not funny' etc, seriously, just go play in some traffic. This movie is going to add a few iconic phrases into popular culture, it is going to be that big and popular. Next year, you will find yourself referencing 'Cardio!' and 'Double-Tap!' in so many situations, trust me.

Demanding an internet movie "critic" be as deep and intelligent as Pauline Kael is as strange to me as going to a Nickelback concert and screaming that they be as fantastic as Led Zeppelin. The end result just aint going to happen.

ok great. harry is fat, quint sucks, herc is retarded and so on. then why do you even bother coming to this fucking site?? are people seriously THAT bored,THAT lonely, THAT damned pathetic they have to go to a website just to talk shit to the contributers? yeah, i guess they are. fuckin weak sauce man.don't read quint's damned reviews if his writing bothers you. think harry is a sellout who brags about the people he knows and hangs with?? then stay the fuck away and start your own anti-AICN and commiserate there with your fellow haters and move the fuck on. there is probably at least one or two other sites you could check out

I appreciate constructive criticism and I've credited honest criticism from talkbackers for helping me improve my writing over the years. Keep in mind that I was first published on this site when I was 16 years old. Movies are my life and my passion, so of course I reference movies a lot.<BR><BR>In terms of world knowledge, I don't claim to be a renaissance man, but I do have a lot of personal experience. I've traveled to over a dozen countries, spent a lot of time with different people and different cultures. In the case of New Zealand it became my second home for a while. I've been all across the US as well. I'm not trying to parade myself as an expert on other cultures, but I have had a great many real life experiences, not just theoretical knowledge gleaned from movies and books.<BR><BR>And in regards to the cameo term you're now conveniently changing the argument. In the original post you gave the definition for the usage describing cutting a gem and the date range of the origin of the word being around 1375 as some proof that Todd isn't credited with coining the term. Now you're talking about it being used in the 1800s in the theater, which isn't the same argument and wouldn't have received a smart-ass reply from me because it's not a smart-ass jab.<BR><BR>If you feel my reviews are hollow and all I can do is compare a movie to other movies then that's your right as a reader. If you liked my AMAW and AMAD columns then I assume you don't think I always do that, so I don't know why such negativity now. I will say that movies are my life, so you're going to see me relating to them a lot when discussing other films, new or old. It's your call if you're going to click on my reviews. Me, if I don't like somebody's opinion on movies or their writing I do a radical thing... I don't read them.<BR><BR>I'm not going to be offended if you don't like what I have to say, but I will get annoyed if all you ever do is pop up in every review taking personal jabs at me. Maybe that's why you do it and all I'm doing is feeding the monster by engaging you. I don't know. All I'm saying is calling me out on inaccuracies is fine. I fuck up a lot, I'm a human being. I'm not insecure about it. It's the personal turn and patronizing tone that I feel is uncool.

That was what I was really EXCITED about, where the stars of the movie crash in his home and find Bill Murray in zombie make up, pretending to be one of the undead. It was this scene I thought made the movie sound genius and the combo of Woody and Bill made me think KINGPIN (which is a good thing).
But it's POST-CREDITS?!?

If you feel I have never added anything worthwhile to film discussion as you state then I can only conclude that you read my stuff and post talkbacks only to hold yourself up as a better, smarter person. Your argument about hoping for something better doesn't seem stick if, as you said, I've never given you anything worth reading in my 12 years of writing for this site. Based on what you've stated in this talkback I'd say I've been pretty damned consistent in your eyes.<BR><BR>Again, it's your right to feel I don't bring anything to the discussion. You're the reader, you have the power, not me. I'm just a guy who loves movies and tries to relate that. That's my job. It's up to you to determine what you get out of me as a personality and of my opinion.<BR><BR>Obviously something is bringing you back to this site. If you don't like anybody or anything else here, except Vern who has his own site you can frequent without having to lower yourself to reading my dreck, I'm thinking it's more about your desire to hold yourself above us. I don't know why else you'd subject yourself to something you obviously hold in such disdain on a daily basis. Am I wrong?

There's long been enough room for multiple festivals in Austin, it's one of the many appealing aspects of the city's art scene. However, for the second year in a row, a "secret screening" at Fantastic Fest (last year's Role Models, and Goats this year) has ripped the rug right out from under an AFF centerpiece or marquee screening. If you're going to wait until the hour of the screening to announce the title, perhaps you could at least do Austin's film scene the simple favor of collaborating (or conversing, at the very least) with the AFF.

CHRIST. HOT IS WHEN I'M PREPARED TO RUB ONE OUT, ANYTIME/ANYWHERE.
<P>
KATHLEEN TURNER USED TO SIMPLY MAKE BY BALLS SHRIVEL TO THE SIZE OF RAISINS.
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AND THE HUSKY VOICE WASN'T SEXY. IT SIMPLY MEANT SHE HAD A COCK.